In addition to the specialist requirements, a large part of the complexity of a billing system consists in the optimum mapping of various technical requirements:
Integration: Billing systems often have to be integrated seamlessly into a complex IT system. Processing at the interface must be flexible and definable by the user. What interfaces are served? How are the billed data transferred, for example, to the billing partner (FTP, ODEX, XML, MQSeries, etc.)? Which systems have master data supremacy and how is synchronisation of the master data with other systems achieved?
Payment transactions: How and where are payment transactions managed? If this is a component of the billing system, it must also be possible to enter the outcomes of the payment transactions, or it is the task of the FIBU, and the corresponding master data must be transferred to the latter.
Scalability and Performance: a Forrester-study (0972004) said, that in about 44% of performance-problem cases the reason for this is a bad system-architecture, and only in 10% its the hardware. A bad system-architecture causes expensive performanceproblems, which can not every time be solved by buying hardware. So a high performant billing-systems gives you a high potential of cost-reduction. Continuous parallel processing is necessary for the system to be able to grow and cope with any unusual peak loads. All the processing stages must be capable of working largely autonomously and in parallel, individual performance management should be capable of modifying the number of processes in the course of operation and so enable growth along with the hardware (number of processors, main memory).
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Other requirements arise in the course of operation:
Web interface: The user interface is to be viewed very differently depending on the user, but it should be one thing in any case: accessible via the Internet. For that reason the web browser should be used for all operations and data management. This also enables the involvement of suppliers and billing partners, an essential feature for the reinforcement of business relationships.
Reporting: Reporting should be managed by the user, by means of inquiries that the user can define, and capable of differentiation according to operator, user and management requirements.
Unmanned operation: All events that are to lead to an activity within the billing system must be detected and handled automatically, in order to be able to run the billing system without additional resources, and not only for 24/7 operations. A sophisticated event management system is required for this.
Surveillance monitors: The billing system can be continuously monitored by means of integrated surveillance functions or in combination with SNMP agents. The system automatically reports exceptional cases via various paths of communication.
Data security is the highest but also the most self-evident requirement. 100 % data integrity tests ensure that data are in the correct form, but experience tells us that it is usually semantic errors (such as faulty master data) that are responsible for an incorrect billing outcome. This places high demands on the handling of exceptional cases. Clear reset points and the automatic and manual rollback in tiny processing steps are used for this. In practice this saves having to conduct a complete restore and repeating the whole of a processing run.This saves both time and money.
With the "billing on demand" solution from Softways GmbH you can be sure that you will be well equipped for the future. Return on investment is guaranteed by rapid, flexible and cost-effective adaptation to market requirements, prompt receipt of payments, personnel savings in service structures and, last but not least, enhanced customer satisfaction.
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german
